In the 1980’s alligator production became an important alternative agricultural business in the Deep South. Holding of alligators in captivity for breeding purposes was not a new idea. Historically, the first commercial alligator farm was started in Florida in the 1890s.
Production of alligators in a controlled indoor environment is new, however. Advances in environmentally controlled production methods during the 1980s improved survival rates, allowed sex determination, and produced market size alligators (4 feet long) in less than two years.
These advances, together with the high prices paid for alligator hides, led to rapid expansion of the industry in the 1980s. A surplus of hides coupled with falling hide prices in the early 1990s led to a decline in the number of producers and an uncertain future.
It is legal to practice alligator farming in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. Louisiana leads the nation with 122 licensed alligator farms, followed by Florida with 42, Texas with 40, Georgia with 7, Mississippi with 5, and Alabama with 2 (1993).
Regulation and permitting of alligator farms is under the jurisdiction of the state agency/authority (i.e., Conservation and Natural Resources, Game and Fish, Parks and Wildlife, etc.). Most state laws require an annual fee and a hide tag or a severance tax to farm alligators.
To get specific information on the legal restrictions of alligator farming, check with your local Extension office or state game and fish department.
Historical perspective:
The American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis) is a member of the order Crocodilia. This order includes alligators, crocodiles and caimans. The American alligator was native to coastal plain and low land river bottoms from North Carolina to Mexico. The American alligator can grow to 16 feet or more in length. The only other species of alligator is found in China (A. sinensis) and is endangered.
Crocodiles inhabit tropical areas around the world. There are 15 species of crocodiles, some of which can grow to 23 feet in length. There are four species of caimans that can be found only in Central and South America.
Adult caimans are smaller than adult alligators or crocodiles, seldom attaining 6 feet in length. Hides of all of these species have been used commercially and have approximately the same value based on length and grade. Commercial exploitation has reduced wild populations of crocodilians throughout the world, and many have reached threatened or endangered status.
Crocodile or caiman farming also is being attempted on 597 farms in 47 countries around the globe. The total worldwide population of crocodilians on farms is approximately 1,100,000. American alligators were hunted for their hides beginning in the nineteenth century.
By the turn of the century the annual alligator harvest in the U.S. was around 150,000 per year. Over-harvesting from the wild combined with habitat destruction slowly depleted the native population. The alligator population had severely declined by the 1950s and most states prohibited hunting by the 1960s.
Under the 1973 Endangered Species Act the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service placed alligators under “endangered” or “threatened” species status throughout most of their range to protect them from further exploitation.
Once protected, alligator populations recovered. Recovery was dramatic in some areas, particuallarly in Louisiana, which had prohibited legal harvest since 1962. Louisiana reopened limited harvesting of wild alligators based on sustainable yield in 1972.
The Louisiana population continued to increase even with limited harvesting and was estimated by 1984 to be-only slightly less than levels recorded at the turn of the century. Most other southern states also have experienced alligator population increases after federal protection.
In 1983, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service changed the classification of the American alligator under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) to what is called “threatened for reasons of similarity in appearance.”
This classification means that the American alligator is not threatened or endangered in its native U.S. range, but the sale of its products (hide, meat, etc.) must be strictly regulated (tags, markings and documentation) so that similar crocodilian species that are threatened/ endangered in other parts of the world, are not sold illegally as American alligators.
In other words, this classification helps to protect other crocodilians around the world from illegal exploitation. Today, nuisance control is allowed in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina and Texas.
Limited harvesting from the wild is permitted in Louisiana, Texas and Florida. Table 1 gives harvest records from 1986 through 1991 for both farmed and wild harvested American alligators. It is noteworthy that in 1991, 125,357 harvested alligators or 77.8 percent of the total harvest came from farms.
Author:
Michael P. Masser
